City Council Secures $5B for City for All

As part of a sweeping commitment to pump $5 billion into housing and infrastructure needs, the Adams administration will add 200 staffers to housing agencies and explore rezonings in four areas.

The City Council on Monday provided some details on the investments secured for its City for All plan, a list of the Council’s housing priorities intended to supplement the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment. The Adams administration agreed to the investments, along with several amendments to the text amendment, in order to gain approval of City of Yes.

Last Thursday, the Council’s zoning subcommittee and land use committee approved the measure, meaning that it heads for a full vote on Dec. 5.

The Department of City Planning has agreed to complete neighborhood studies for Coney Island Avenue, which runs through Midwood and Flatbush in Brooklyn; “Harlem River North,” an area that includes Kingsbridge Heights in the Bronx; East Flatbush in Brooklyn; and White Plains Road in the Bronx.

These studies were selected at the request of local Council members, and would be the first step toward potential rezonings. City of All also includes a $5.9 million pledge to help City Planning with pursuing these and other neighborhood plans.

As part of City of Yes, City Planning can rezone areas to allow residential buildings 15 or 18 times larger than their lot size (a floor area ratio of 15 or 18). The administration has largely proposed these higher FARs in neighborhoods that are already dense, so they are not expected to be used for the four proposed Bronx and Brooklyn rezonings. City Planning already plans to map these higher density districts as part of its rezoning of Midtown South.

Some of the funding will pay for much-needed staff at both the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Buildings. A City Council spokesperson could not specify how many of the 200 staffers will be added to the respective agencies.

The Real Deal recently detailed how staffing shortages within HPD’s development unit were affecting project timelines. Some developers expressed frustration with turnover within the agency, as well as with a lack of transparency as to why some projects moved forward while others languished.

Staff hired at HPD will help “support a range of development, planning, and enforcement functions,” and those added to DOB will “bolster the enforcement, inspection, and examination of buildings, including ADUs and basement and cellar apartments,” according to the City Council.

The Council did not indicate when these new staffers will be added, though a spokesperson said that any funding that did not have a specific timing commitment would be rolled out over the next five years.

That includes $50 million to help HPD update its technology, including its project management system. The agency still doesn’t have a centralized place to consult a project’s status, instead using Dropbox and email to coordinate between developers and project managers, a disjointed system that became even more unsustainable as project managers left the agency during the pandemic.

“We’re somewhat still in the dark ages in terms of just how we do our business,” Kim Darga, deputy commissioner of development, told TRD last month. She said the new content management system would allow the agency to better “track and communicate with our external clients on application status.”

Darga indicated in October that the agency had secured funding for the new project management system, so it is not clear if the $50 million includes that already-approved funding.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the other funding promised as a condition of City of Yes passing:

$2 billion in housing capital investments, including Mitchell Lama and New York Housing Authority developments, as well as Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperatives.
$2 billion for infrastructure investments, including stormwater and drainage systems, street improvements, open space, flood mitigation and sewer upgrades.
$3 million for the Department of Environmental Protection to design new flood maps
$1 million in technical assistance for faith-based and community-based organizations looking to build housing on their properties
$1.5 million for community land trusts
$215 million in funding for CityFHEPS vouchers in fiscal years 2025 and 2026
$10 million to renovate “chronically vacant rent-stabilized units” and connect them with New Yorkers with city vouchers
Increased funding for downpayment assistance program, legal services for homeowners and for HomeFix program

Before last week’s vote, the City Council made several changes to the text amendment, including protecting parking requirements in some areas and restricting where accessory dwelling units can be built. The amendments reduced the number of housing units expected to be built due to City of Yes to 80,000 over the next 15 years, down from the 109,000 originally projected.